Check Your Motives

“Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. (Matthew 6:1-4 NLT)

Have you ever taken the time to consider what your motives are for what you do? Is your motive a selfish motive, to be appreciated by others, or is it to bring glory and honor to Jesus Christ? I pray and hope it is to bring glory and honor to our Savior. Whenever we extend our hand to someone in need, that’s not the time for us as children of God to boast about what we did for others. Boasting about it to others causes a person to lose the reward they would have received from God (Matt 6:1). As children of God we should be careful of our motives, we should make sure our motives are pure.

St. Matthew 6:3 tells us ‘But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing’. This Scripture does not only apply to helping the poor but also in our giving of money. What is your motive for giving, is it to be appreciated and honored by the leaders of the church or to be seen by others? If that’s the motive, then you already received your reward according to Scripture. The Bible says we should not let our left hand knows what our right hand does. That simply means, do not call attention to yourself to show your good deeds. When you help others, give money to others, or give to the church it should not be made public.

My prayer for each of us as children of God, member or leader, is to consider our motives before we do a good deed. We will never be effective in ministry if our motives are not right. We never want to lose out on God’s reward because our motives are not right. Please keep in mind that nothing is wrong if someone appreciates or honors you for doing a good deed, the problem arises when our motives are wrong. Always make sure that your motives are pleasing to God. It’s better to get God’s reward than man. God’s reward is eternal, men’s reward is temporal. With man, if you do something to offend them they will throw you to the curb. Seek to get the reward that will last and only God can do that.